Reading this, I totally agree and that is why I use Webflow almost exclusively for web-design these days. There is a huge difference between web-design and web-development. Obviously designing an enterprise grade SaaS tool would need more than webflow, and would require a whole team of both backend and front-end web developers, and possibly another whole team dedicated to UX, Design, and Interaction Design.

I am traditionally from a design background but out of necessity I began to learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Before webflow I preferred to design for the web in code, vs photoshop or sketch. I wireframe outside of webflow to get buyoff on the UX and flow and then design prototypes in code.

The main problem with traditional tools is the lack of being able to design responsively, and that is exactly what Webflow allows me to do. I use webflow to design react components (Here is an example of a similar workflow to what I do https://webflow.com/website/Webflow-React)

Webflow just keeps getting better and better, and they’ve actually totally re-written their design tool in React. I talked with Vlad, one of the co-founders of Webflow while he was out here in SLC for React Rally and some major things are coming soon that I’m really excited for. Interactions 2.0, the ability to nest symbols to allow for better atomic design, cross site copy paste, the list goes on.

Ideally instead of handing over an image to the developers of a component, I’d eventually like to give them a link to the prototype in Webflow and one .js file of a “dumb” react component with CSS in JS (We are currently using styled components but are thinking of switching over to Glamorous) and the HTML structure in JSX.

Don’t get me wrong, no tool is perfect and Webflow is still in its infancy, but its the best thing I’ve come across in years, and they are continuing to improve at a rapid pace, and will only continue to be able to release things faster now that they’ve transitioned to using React.

You might ask, “Why if you know how to code would you use a tool like Webflow that writes the code for you?” My answer to this is that it is just another tool, just like using a CSS preprocessor like SCSS or LESS is a tool for developers, or using an IDE. It speeds up my design process immensely, especially when working with complicated CSS properties like Flexbox, or CSS animation properties and timings. I am a very visual person, so for me, being able to code visually without having to use tools like grunt or gulp with live-reload, I can just design, and leave the actual development to actual developers.